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First CSA Share!

Here is the first box from this seasons' farm share from Frog Holler farm

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It's National Donut Day!

So you should go enjoy some donuts.  If you have a favorite donut shop, share it with the world on my other blog donutdatabase.blogspot.com

There's always room for donuts

I have some very important news... I have taken over the Donut Database blog.  This website lets you find donut shops, wherever you are, and add your favorite donut shops to a big map of all the donut shops in the world! Or at least that is the ultimate goal.  I will also be featuring various amazing donut shops, and inviting all my adoring readers to send in names and pictures of their favorite places to get donuts.  I'm hoping that I can use my new status here to score free donuts. Check it out....
www.donutdatabase.blogspot.com

Terribly Happy....

....about the danish I just made.  Also, that's the title of an awesome movie from Denmark. Oh, I'm so clever! Anyway, I've been wanting to make some kind of so-called "laminated dough" for a long long while, but it always seemed like such a time commitment.  Apparently "laminated dough" refers to kinds of dough with layers and layers and layers of butter (or shortening or lard, probably) in them, as a result of folding the dough, then rolling it out, then folding the dough, then rolling it out, then folding the dough.... sigh. And did I mention that you are required to refrigerate said dough for at least an hour between each folding/rolling session?
Well, because we are having the longest winter EVER and I am now suffering from extreme cabin fever, I have a lot of pent up energy. Last weekend, I somehow managed to channel this into baking, rather than just surfing the internet, watching horror movies, or drawing sharpie tattoos on myself and my children...
I started the dough on Friday night...and by Sunday "morning" (2 p.m.) there were fully formed danish ready to consume.  Just to give you an idea of the time line.
That being said, there was nothing at all that was hard about making these.  I consulted both Martha Stewart and Nigella recipes, as well as googling "danish pastry" and ended up with this:
1 cup milk (* have some extra on hand..more on this later)
2 envelopes instant yeast (or "rapid"....if you use active dry, dissolve it in the milk first)
4 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs salt
1 pound of butter (softened...cut it up into tablespoons and lay on a plate, and it will soften in about 15 minutes)
2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
Preserves
Sugar (to sprinkle on the tops)
Another egg, beaten (to brush on the tops, do not mix into the dough)

1. Put the flour, yeast, sugar , salt, 4 Tbs of the butter, and milk into the mixer and mix until the dough becomes cohesive. This is where the potential need for extra milk comes in.  I don't know what it is about baking...is it related to the moisture in the air? The brand of flour? Who knows... but sometimes I end up having to add a lot more liquid just to make the dough stick together.  Anyway, add the extra milk a tiny bit at a time so that you do not drown the dough.
2.When it comes together and does not have any big dry clumps of flour, knead it with the dough hook, or by hand, very briefly, until relatively smooth.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate several hours, or overnight.
3. Now, take it out of the fridge and I suggest letting it sit for just a few minutes because it will be really hard to roll out at first.  Then, roll it out into a big rectangle, about 1 1/2 feet (yes really) by a foot. Approximate. It should be about a quarter of an inch thick. Now, distribute the butter all over two thirds of the dough, like this:

It will seem like way too much butter, and this is coming from me, and I heart butter.  But it will be fine...everything will be alll right.
4. Now, fold the naked 1/3 over the butter, and then flip that folded part over the rest of the buttered part. Basically, fold it into thirds, like a business letter, as they say.

Voila. It will be bulging with butter in an almost obscene way. Try to sort of pinch the edges to keep the butter from seeping out the seams.
5. Roll it out, to the same dimensions as before. Now fold it into thirds again. And put into the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic. This is the first "turn", and there will be three turns.  Now, you can start to imagine how danish and crossaints get all the layers, right?
6. After an hour (at least) take it out, roll out, fold up. Re-wrap, put back in fridge. For another hour.
7. See # 6.  This is the third and final turn. EXCEPT, after this one, leave it in the fridge for 3 or 4 hours or overnight.  This is for letting the dough rest and the butter get really cold before you cut into it. Or, it's tradition, perhaps.  I don't know, but it seemed to work.
8. Now you are ready to SHAPE and FILL! Roll it out a final time into a big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut along the edges so they are nice and straight.
9. Now, cut into 12 equal sized squares.  Make cuts from each corned in toward the middle, like this:

 But stop short about an inch from the middle of the square. (I know these pictures are not good, I was using my phone.  I can't find my camera charger)
10. Fold in corners like such:

Until you get this:

Ta da! A cute little pinwheel! Make sure you really press the dough into the center of the pinwheel - otherwise, when you bake them, they will pop open and you will end up with danish in the shape of iron crosses, which is probably not a message you want to be sending.
11. Put a spoonful of preserves in the middle. Put on a baking sheet which has parchment paper if you have it (which I never do), or aluminum foil, which is what I did. Because I'm too lazy to wash baking sheets, this way you just peel off the foil and throw it away.  Just typing that made me feel guilty about the environment.
12. When all 12 pinwheels are made (they will have to go on two baking sheets, fyi), cover them with plastic or a damp cloth, and let rise for an hour. Preheat the oven to 375.
13. Brush beaten egg on the tops, sprinkle with sugar.  Bake about 20 minutes, switching the sheets halfway (in other words, 10 minutes on the top rack, 10 min on the bottom rack, for each sheet of pastries)


14. Cool on baking rack

 While I was making these, I was so enthusiastic that I started to get all kinds of ideas about making a different kind of pastry each weekend, inviting a bunch of people over for brunch, etc.... now just thinking about all those things makes me exhausted! These were time consuming, but worth it, and delicious, really.

You should make this....

Flan.  Looks fancy.  So easy to make.  Don't even bother to use a recipe for flan that involves reducing down the milk or cream or whatever.  This recipe makes flan to rival any other flan, I promise.  And I'm not tooting my own horn, because I didn't make the recipe up, it comes from Nigella, with just tiny adjustments to temperature and time. And by the way, even though the name "flan" suggests Spanish or Mexican cuisine, flan=creme caramel as far as I'm concerned, so you could call it that and serve it with French food.

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Put 3/4 cup of sugar into a (metal) pie pan or a cake pan, or a tarte tatin pan, roughly 9" wide.
3. This is the ONLY tricky part....put the pan over medium heat on the stove...you will probably have to use oven mitts here so that you can keep lifting the pan and swirling it around.  You want the sugar to melt and turn the color of caramel.  Now, let me tell you what I actually did when I made this, because I don't you to get discouraged at this point in the recipe.  The sugar was taking a very long time to caramelize, and I was nervous to keep leaving it directly on the burner, because I could see the sugar caramelizing in the spiral pattern of the burner.  So, after a while, I put the pan into the oven.  Then I just kept checking it.  Between the burner and the oven, after a while MOST of the sugar looked caramel-colored, BUT there was still some sugar that had not even melted... wtf?  So I ended up stirring it with a teaspoon and it all melted and turned a nice, uniform color. I hope this doesn't put you off the recipe.  You could probably do the whole thing in the oven.  Also, be careful during this part, because sugar burns are bad news.
4. Ok! The most difficult part is over!  Now, mix together well: one can of evaporated milk, and one can of condensed milk, 3 large eggs, and 2 tsp of vanilla. Pour this mixture into the pan, on top of the caramelized sugar.
5.  Put the pan into a bigger pan, like a roasting pan, and pour 2 cups of really hot water into the pan. Make sure the water does not get into the smaller pan!
6. Put the whole thing in the oven, for about an hour.  You will have to stick a knife into it and see if it comes out clean.  It should not look so jiggly as to be liquid, however, you can't expect it to lose all of its jiggle.
7. Refrigerate it overnight or at least for several hours.  When you are ready to eat it, flip it over onto a platter and pour the rest of the syrup out of the pan onto the flan.

Tamale Time

Oh, how I love alliteration!
These are kind of a pain in the a** to put together but don't let that stop you - it's not that hard. 

First figure out what you want to fill them with --- I am not giving any recipes here. You could go a million ways. You could cook pork, chicken, beef etc., as you would for a filling for something else, like say, oh..enchiladas. Or you could cook black beans with onion, garlic, serrano pepper, oil, water, until tender then mash them up in a pan with more oil and add salt until they taste good, which is what I did this time. You could just cook some chorizo, which would probably be the fastest thing to do, now that I am thinking about it.  They even make "soyrizo" for any vegetarians out there, but I cannot vouch for the taste....I've only seen it. You could do whatever you want.... the sky's the limit for you, pal!

Then, make the masa - this is the corn part of the tamales.

1. Get a bag of instant masa, they have it at almost every grocery store.
2. Mix 4 cups of instant masa with 2-3 cups water - enough to make it a pliable dough.
3. Put 8 oz of shortening* in the mixer and beat it. Or do it by hand.  Then mix in the masa. Then add enough chicken broth or other liquid until it comes together to the consistency of playdoh.  Mmm, yummy.
 (*or lard, wink wink)

Now, assemble them
1. Soak dried corn husks in hot water for 20 minutes (weigh them down with a bowl or something)
2. Spread (or, smoosh down with your fingers) about one big tablespoon of tamale dough in the middle of the corn husk, in a square about 3x3in

3. Put a spoon full of filling in the middle of this.  Looks pretty, right? Refried black beans are not photogenic.

4. Fold one side of the corn husk over, so that the filling is getting folded into the middle of the dough, then fold the other side over.  Then, fold the bottom of the corn husk up, and tie around it with a string. This reads much more complicated than it really is.

Once they are all assembled, you can wrap them and freeze them, supposedly, or put them in the fridge for a day or so, or steam them right away. Find a pot that you can either put a rack in the bottom of, or use a big pasta pot with a colander insert, which works perfectly.  Now put water in the bottom.  Stand all the tamales up, with the folded part at the bottom, in the pot. Put a damp cloth over the top, then put the lid on. Turn the heat up to about medium-high and steam those suckers for an hour.

You can make sauce to go on them, and I recommend that you do, since I kind of think tamales can be a little bit dry.  This is just a smooth tomato salsa

1. Put 2 cans of diced tomatoes, half a chopped onion, 2 serrano peppers, and 2-3 cloves of garlic in the blender and blend into oblivion.
2. Heat about 3 Tbs oil in a pan and pour in the tomato mixture, cook for about 15-20 minutes over medium low heat.

Perhaps I should add here that this makes an absolutely insane amount of tamales. This much dough would likely make about 40 tamales, but I stopped at 20, so I can't be sure.  The salsa ranchera recipe yields a ton also, but now you will just have something to dip your chips in.


Now, for your fun fact of the day....one of these is just called a tamal, not a tamale.  Just in case you were wondering.  Also, there are certain wolves in the arctic....and sea otters are ticklish.

last gasp of summer...

lunch at Seva...cantaloupe soul, fries, veggie Reuben, TLT

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Trailer trash trifle

brownies + chocolate pudding + coolwhip+ health bar crumbs

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The Agony and the Ecstasy

Yesterday, we got the idea to go downtown and have a wee little snack at @burger, on Liberty... thank god we walked there, I can only hope all that cardiovascular exercise counteracted the heart-clogging effects of all this...

I think Marcus was correct in estimating these milkshakes to weigh in at a couple pounds each..

I just have a delicate little appetite, so I only had this little burger, above

Marcus bravely took one for the team and ordered the "Trash Can Burger"... I think it had: velveeta, chili, a fried egg, chips, fried onions, peppers, pickles.... It was a perfect balance between disgusting and delicious

My (cousin's) Big Fat Italian Wedding

Oh, you don't know about cookie tables? I'm so sorry you aren't Italian... these are pictures of the THREE cookie tables at my cousin's recent wedding. Unfortunately, between the open bar, the tarantella, and the food coma I was in, I forgot to take pictures of the buffet. Let's just say, it was the kind of food you would expect to see in an episode of Sopranos, and I mean that in the highest respect because I love that show. Sorry anti-defamation league. Notice I said "Sopranos" and not "Jersey Shore", because if anyone gives Italian's a bad name, it's those fist-pumping idiots, not the sociopathic killers depicted in any good mob movie. Even the bride compared her wedding to Connie's in Godfather. So there.

Anyway, cookie tables.... homemade cookies... tables full....

Groceries fit for a ....person who makes more $ than a public school employee

Really though....isn't this the most beautiful array of groceries you have ever seen? I want you to take particular note of the FOUR POUNDS of chocolate in front. You see, I was planning to make ganache and I knew the proportions, but I got them mixed up, so I accidentally doubled the amount of chocolate that I needed. I know, it's hardly a tragedy. Somehow, someway, I will find a use for all that chocolate....

P.s. Can you guess where I got these lovely groceries? I bet you can!

I'm back!!! You can all relax now

Hello everyone out there...all two, or maybe three, people who look at my blog! I've been busy...working a new full-time job, taking care of my two small energetic children, falling head-over-heels for a guy who can totally cook....but while I've been doing these things, I've been cooking and taking pictures so it's time to start blogging again. I'll start with these pictures of a recent dinner party I had...

In the picture above, you'll see lovely pita bread on the left, and not-so-lovely dried

Persian limes on the right. I did my shopping at Jerusalem Market (I think that's the name) on Plymouth Rd, which has all manner of middle-eastern food, for extremely reasonable prices...I don't know what to do with dried Persian limes, by the way...does anyone have any ideas?
Next let me show you this amazing dish of braised chicken and root vegetables, which my dear friend Chris made and brought over, still warm from the oven...mmmmm
My darling friend Christi, author of the food blog....uh, the name escapes me, because she hasn't posted anything in such a long long time...anyway, she made this delish caprese salad..
A tray of honey-soaked goodness... I think my favorites were the ones on the left, but it's hard to say..

Here is Nick's plate, which nicely represents all the things I cooked, clockwise from the top: Dena's pilaf (recipe to follow), Christi's salad (oops, I didn't make that), fried halloumi cheese (tastes better than it looks, like "vegetarian bacon", as Nigella would say), fried eggplant, and Syrian green beans (I posted this recipe much earlier, but what the hell...I'll post it again).

Everything was delicious, if I do say so myself, and thanks to everyone who cooked and ate and made this dinner party possible.....my only regret was that everyone left too early :( Are we getting old? Oh well..maybe next time...

Okay, here is my aunt Dena's pilaf recipe, I hope she doesn't mind that I'm sharing it!! My comments are in ( ).

Dena's Pilaf

2 cups rice (basmati is what I used)

1 1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp anise

4 cups chicken broth

golden raisins

1 onion, sliced very fine

pine nuts (I used sliced almonds...Cheaper!!)

1. Brown pine nuts and onion in olive oil and set aside

2. Brown rice in oil, then add chicken broth, cumin, and anise

3. Throw in raisins (a couple handfuls maybe?)

4. Simmer till rice is done (about 40 min)

5. Place in bowl, put onions and pine nuts (or toasted sliced almonds) on top (and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds if you can get them...hint: Hillers had little containers of pomegranate seeds, so you don't have to seed any pomegranates yourself, if you are lazy..like me)

Fried Eggplant

1. Slice eggplants, about a half inch thick, and put them in a colander, then sprinkle them liberally with salt. Leave in the sink and watch all the moisture drip out of the eggplants...gross and strangely satisfying at the same time.

2. Pat them dry and brush off most of the salt.

3. Dip them in flour (make sure they are dry first), and fry in shallow olive oil

4. Eat them warm with greek yogurt..mmm

Lebne dip and Toasted pita chips (not pictured, but still good!)

1. Get some lebne ("yogurt cheese", just plain yogurt that has been relieved of much of its water so its consistency is between sour cream and cream cheese) and za'tar (a middle eastern spice blend). You may have to go to a middle eastern grocery store for these...and I'm not 100% sure what all is in za'tar, so I can't tell you how to make it yourself

2. Mix some za'tar into the lebne, and stir it up good..

3.Cut pita bread into lil' triangles, brush them with olive oil, put them on a baking sheet

4. Bake them at probably 400 or so, until they look nice and crispy

5. Take them out and sprinkle LIBERALLY with salt

6. Dip them in the lebne/za'tar dip....ta-da!

Laura's Syrian Green Beans...so good they are posted on this blog twice

1 lb green beans
1/2 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil (don't skimp here)
couple fat pinches sugar
salt and pepper to taste
half a lemon

Ok, it looks like a lot of olive oil, but trust me. Heat the olive oil in a big pan. Add the onions an cook for a few minutes until softened. Add the green beans, cook a few more minute, then the garlic, and cook yet a few more minutes. Now add the tomatoes, juice and all, and the sugar. Cook over fairly low heat for about 35 minutes, or until the green beans are soft, and almost starting to fall apart. You are not looking for crunch here. It should all be melded together, stewing in delicious olive oil. Mmmmm. Trust me and make it, it is like crack. You'll keep going back to fridge to sneak more bites, and it is even better the next day.

Does bacon make everything better?

It's a freshly fried donut, with bourbon-caramel sauce, vanilla gelato, peanuts, whipped cream, and a cherry. Sprinkled with bacon.

This is from Zingerman's Roadhouse. And yes, bacon did make this better. However --I just tried a Manhattan made with bacon-infused whiskey a few days ago, which confirmed my fear that there are some things that are not improved by the addition of bacon. Sad.

moules marinaire

Oh man I made these so long ago I can barely remember how I made them..and now I feel really, really lazy... Ok, well, first you have to soak the mussels in cold water for a bit to get the sand out. Then scrub them, if they're lookin dirty or whatever. Ok, then chop some garlic and shallots. Put a tablespoon or two of olive in a big pot. Saute the garlic and shallots for a minute or two, then dump in the mussels and a cup of white wine, then cover and turn down heat so the mussels steam. Cook them for about, oh I don't know...7 or 8 minutes? Until most of them open up. Then, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and put in a pretty bowl. Then, add to the juices in the pan: a few tablespoons of butter, and a tablespoon or two of dijon mustard, and bring this to a quick boil. Then pour it over the mussels. The end!

Bahn Mi Bonanza!

I didn't really have a Bahn Mi "Bonanza", I just like alliteration.
These are amazing vietnamese sandwiches that bring together the beauty of french baguettes and mayonnaise (which is originally french, right?), with the tangy southeast asian flavors of fish sauce and pickled vegetables. And they are very easy to make. Unless, like me, you go to the Chinese grocery store to look for pickled daikon and carrots, bringing along two small children who spend the whole trip alternating between holding their noses and begging for Pocky. This was very distracting and I never found pickled daikon & carrots, so I had to buy daikon and carrots fresh and pickle them myself. Which wasn't really hard, just a pain in the ass. It would have been easier if I could've gotten the shredding attachment on the food processor to work, and didn't have to julienne two pounds of vegetables myself. I'm not complaining, it's just that I'm a really slow cutter. I need knife lessons.

Here are the ingredients to make the version of Bahn Mi that I made, but bear in mind that Bahn Mi can have all kinds of different things in them, so don't feel limited.

Baguette

Pickled carrots and daikon

mayonnaise

Pork

Cilantro

Cucumbers

Red onions

Sriracha

Here is the pork recipe:

2 pounds of pork chops, or similar, cut into small slices

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

4 Tbs fish sauce

4 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs freshly ground black pepper

4Tbs finely chopped onion, or shallot

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp sesame oil

Mix everything except the pork in a ziploc bag. Then add the pork and let it marinate for at least an hour. Heat up a pan fairly hot and fry the pork but good.

I guess you could halve this recipe, but why would you?

Ok, here is the pickled daikon and carrot recipe, if you find yourself needing it:

1/2 pound carrots, shredded or julienned or similar

1/2 pound daikon, cut up like the carrots

3 cups warm water

3 Tbs rice vinegar

3 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs salt

Pack the daikon and carrots into a clean jar. Mix all the other ingredients together until dissolved. Then pour this mixture into the jar. Put this in the fridge and leave for a few days before you use it, ideally. (I had to use it after a few hours, so I had to sprinkle extra vinegar on the sandwich to make up for it)

This recipe, on the other hand, I already halved for you, because I pickled two pounds of vegetables, which turns out to be quite a lot, unless you are going to eat this all the time. But feel free to double it back if you wish.

I doubt that you need instructions on how to assemble a sandwich, but... here you go:

Cut a piece of baguette open, spread mayonnaise on it, add sriracha, layer pork, cilantro, cucumbers, pickled vegetables in whatever ratios you want. Enjoy!

Spaghetti with Braciole (known in some circles as "Sunday Gravy")

First let me say that I realize my camera work needs help. I'm working on it. Anyway...

Here is my family's recipe for the long-simmering tomato sauce that you see people eating in every movie about Italian Americans. There's a reason they are all eating it...because it's so damn awesome. In fact, I will no longer watch one of my favorite movies of all time -Goodfellas- unless I have this spaghetti on hand, or on the stove at least, because otherwise, I'll get to the part when they are making sauce in prison, and I'll need some. I'll write out the whole recipe, but really, I can synopsize it like this: Put some kind of beef or pork product in a pan and brown it in olive oil, then add some kind of tomato product (sauce, paste, puree, juice, whatevs) and just let it all cook over low-ish heat for at least 4 hours. You can add garlic, basil, oregano, and sugar, but if you forget, which I have done on more than one occasion, it will still be amazing. Really, the only ways you can screw it up are if you a) burn it, or b) don't cook it long enough. You can use whatever meat you want: italian sausage, pork chops, country style ribs, braciole (which is rolled beef), meatballs, pepperoni, etc. etc. You can use all those things or just one, or whatever combo.

Okay, here is the step-by-step recipe, handed down from my paternal great-grandmother Speranza to my grandmother Bette, although I'm copying a recipe that is in my mother's words.

1 flank steak (or top or bottom round)

2 lbs ground beef

Italian bread crumbs

Eggs

2 big cans tomato sauce

1-2 small cans tomato paste

one paste-can of water

garlic, minced, plus 2-3 cloves cut into big chunks

dried basil

dried oregano, optional

sugar

Pound flank steak on both sides. Sprinkle with minced garlic, basil, and oregano. Roll up and tie with white cotton string. Meanwhile, brown chunks of garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil and remove. Add rolled flank steak and brown on all sides. Turn down heat and add sauce, paste, water and more seasonings to taste (about 1 Tbs of each).

You will learn that exact amounts don't matter too much, but here is the essential thing: cook this a looooong time. Joe's dad [this would be my grandfather] says it must be cooked at least 4 hours or the sauce will taste "fresh" (God forbid!). Just keep checking to makke sure it tis not cooking down too fast or sticking. You can always add a little more water. Sauce should be just simmering.

After flank steak has been simmering in the sauce for a couple of hours, make the meatballs: put meat in a bowl, add a couple of eggs, a half cup of bread crumbs, plus a tablespoon of milk. Just keep adding these ingredients until the meatball are kind of loose but they'll stick together. Make them any size you like but they'll take longer to cook if they are bigger - duh. Put them in a big roasting pan that you've oiled with a little olive oil. Bake them in 350 degree oven until they are pretty brown. Then take them out and put them in the sauce for the last hour and a half or so --not too much longer or they will really fall apart. After at least 4 hours, cook the pasta of your choice. When it is done, remove the flank steak (braciole) from the sauce, cut away the string and cut into slices. Put meat on a serving dish and ladle a little sauce over it. Drain pasta and put in bowl mixed with some of the sauce. Put extra sauce in a little pitcher at the table.

You can add or subtract ingredients from this recipe - it is impossible to ruin unless you burn it or make the sauce too watery. You can add chunks of pepperoni, which will make it a little spicy. Use Italian sausage instead of or in addition to the braciole. I have even made it vegetarian -- I just put more olive oil in when I browned the garlic and cooked it down for hours. You can also use dried red pepper flakes. You may want to double the amount of sauce if you're serving lots of people or if you want lots of leftovers. Leftovers the next day - meatball sandwiches, yum!

Mang'!

Wenslydale with cranberries, why can't I quit you?

It was bad times when I suddenly couldn't find my cheese obsession anywhere. I ended up going to five stores before relenting and going to Whole Foods, which had it, thank god. It's just lucky that I was low on funds when I went or I would've seriously considered buying the $40 half-wheel of it, just to save the hassle of hunting it down again --at least for a while.

Here is a sandwich I made with the cheese, plus roast beef, dijon mustard, and my other current food obsession --sweet dill pickles. I put all these together between day-old whole-wheat zingerman's farm bread and fried it in butter...yeah

I WANT MORE FROSTIIIIIING!!!!!!

That is what Julia screamed at The Cupcake Station yesterday. Screamed. I had forgotten her preferred manner of eating cupcakes, which I'm embarassed to admit. Okay, at home, I just let her eat the frosting off the cupcake, and then I put more frosting on. The cupcake itself is just a vehicle for frosting. Which is not okay at The Cupcake Station, where the cupcakes are $2.25 each. I quieted her down by quickly promising her under my breath that we would never come to the cupcake store again if she screamed like that, and luckily, she did not call my bluff. Above is the Mocha Latte cupcake: "moist chocolate cake filled and frosted with rich espresso buttercream topped with coffee beans" mmmm


The girls both had Chocolate Petals --chocolate cake with (pink) buttercream Julia is doing her Sean Penn impression above. She was mad about the frosting situation and she did NOT want it captured on film

Cal enjoying her cupcake.

The Cupcake Station is on Liberty, by the way. I don't know how long a cupcake-only store will last in this economy, so you should probably check it out sooner rather than later.

Happy Lame-o Valentines Day!

Honestly, I have found Valentines Day to be completely underwhelming since I was about 10. BUT...it's a very exciting holiday for five- to ten-year-olds, because they get to have a party at school. Callie was really excited for about two weeks beforehand. So we made cupcakes to honor St. Valentine. I'm pretty sure that there is some kind of gory legend connected with St. Valentine himself, but I can't remember it. Anyone?

We made Devil's Food cupcakes, with Nutella frosting, and we filled them with raspberry jam, just to be extra fancy. And, since the girls like to rock out while baking, I put the word "love" into the search on my itunes library and played the following :

Love, Reign O’er Me –The Who

Cry For Love – Iggy Pop

Tainted Love –Soft Cell

Somebody To Love – Jefferson Airplane

Sunshine Of Your Love –Cream

Underwater Love –Faith No More

Love To Hate You –Erasure

May This Be Love –Jimi Hendrix

Whole Lotta Love –Led Zeppelin

Fell In Love With a Girl –White Stripes

Dub The Frequencies of Love –Gogol Bordello

Sea of Love – (two versions) Cat Power, Tom Waits

Could You Be Loved –Bob Marley

Devil's Food cupcakes:

Put paper cupcake liners in two cupcake/muffin pans for total of 24

Heat oven to 350

In one bowl, whisk together:

2 cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

In another bowl, whisk together:

1 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk (or one cup milk, into which you have squeezed half a lemon)

1/2 cup nonalkalized cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

In yet another bowl, beat until creamy:

1 stick of softened butter

Gradually add and beat on high speed until fluffy:

1 cup sugar

Beat in one at a time:

2 large eggs

On low speed add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in 2 parts, beating until smooth.

Fill cupcake papers about halfway, and bake for about 18-22 min -- check with a toothpick, if it comes out clean, they're done

After these have cooled, fill them with raspberry jam

Just poke holes in them with a chopstick, then put jam in a plastic ziploc and squeeze jam into the cupcakes.

Then make the:

Nutella Frosting

I did not exactly measure while making this, so the most important thing is to add enough powdered sugar to make a consistency that will not slide off the cake, and yet will be easy to spread. First you take:

2 sticks of softened butter

Put them in a mixing bowl and add:

4-6 tablespoons of Nutella

Beat these together, then add:

6 oz of chocolate that has been melted, then cooled a little

Then add powdered sugar until you reach the right consistency. If you make the frosting too stiff, you can add milk to thin it back out.

Frost the cupcakes, and sprinkle with hearts.